Big Trail Adventures
Landscape on the South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole

Self-guided · South West · England

South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole

Your walk from Exmouth to Poole

The Jurassic Coast on foot — Exmouth to Poole past Lyme Regis, over Golden Cap, along Chesil Beach, and through Lulworth Cove. 117 miles of UNESCO coastline that repays every step.

Build your tripSee your route
Distance
190 km
Ascent
3,760 m
Stages
4 – 12 days
Grade
Moderate
5.03 verified reviews

“An amazing and very memorable experience”Bhagyashree & Akhil · Tour du Mont Blanc

Read the reviews

This is the Jurassic Coast — 190 kilometres of UNESCO World Heritage coastline from Exmouth to Poole, past Lyme Regis, over Golden Cap, along Chesil Beach and through Lulworth Cove. It's the finish many walkers choose deliberately, a fitting last stretch whether or not you've walked the five stages before it.

The geology does a lot of the work — red Devon cliffs give way to fossil-rich Dorset shale, then chalk and limestone at the eastern end. It's a stage that rewards slowing down, not rushing to the finish line at Poole Harbour.

Trail Essentials

Start
Exmouth
Devon
End
Poole
Dorset
Distance
190 km
118 miles
Total Ascent
3,760 m
12,336 ft
Difficulty
Moderate
Hilliness
Rolling to hilly
Time to Complete
Explorer
10 days
~19 km/day
Hiker
9 days
~21 km/day
Fastpacker
7 days
~27 km/day
Trail Runner
5 days
~38 km/day
When to Walk
Best Good Avoid
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
NOV
DEC

Exmouth to Poole — the stage in numbers.

Here's how this section looks for most walkers. Everything here is a starting point — the planner below rebuilds it around your own pace and dates.

Distance
190 km / 118 miles
Total ascent
3,760 m
Start
Exmouth
Finish
Poole
Days walking
4–12 days
Difficulty
Moderate
Best months
May–Aug
Part of
South West Coast Path

A typical 9-day schedule

Walked at our hiker pace, this is where most of our customers finish each day. Take more days and we'll split the longer stages; take fewer and we'll lengthen them by using the stops in between. We know every option along the route, so your days end up the right length whatever pace you choose.

Suggested day-by-day itinerary for the South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole
DayStageDistanceAscentWalking
1Exmouth toSidmouth20.2 km381 m6½ hrs
2Sidmouth toSeaton16.0 km508 m6 hrs
3Seaton toCharmouth17.5 km457 m6 hrs
4Charmouth toAbbotsbury26.4 km540 m8½ hrs
5Abbotsbury toFortuneswell20.5 km165 m5½ hrs
6Fortuneswell toWeymouth (Harbour)22.9 km345 m7 hrs
7Weymouth (Harbour) toWest Lulworth20.2 km417 m6½ hrs
8West Lulworth toHill Bottom18.9 km595 m7 hrs
9Hill Bottom toPoole27.4 km352 m8 hrs

How the trail unfolds.

Your trail divides naturally into three parts — not by day, but by rock. Red sandstone carries you through Devon's seaside towns, Chesil's long shingle and Portland's white limestone fill the middle, and the walking finishes among the chalk and quarrymen's ledges of Purbeck.

01

Exmouth to Charmouth

The Red Coast

Regency seafronts under red sandstone cliffs, then chalk, then a landslip wilderness with Lyme Regis waiting at the far end.

You start along Exmouth's seafront and climb at Orcombe Point, where the Geoneedle marks the start of the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site. The cliffs are red sandstone, the floor of a desert 250 million years old, and they stay red past Budleigh Salterton's pebble beach and the sea stacks of Ladram Bay to Sidmouth. Chalk takes over at Branscombe, where the anchor of the container ship MSC Napoli sits above the beach.

Then the strangest miles of the walk: the Axmouth to Lyme Regis Undercliffs, a landslip wilderness you can only leave at either end, delivering you to Mary Anning's Lyme Regis and the fossil beach at Charmouth.

02

Charmouth to Weymouth

Shingle and Stone

The south coast's highest cliff, 18 miles of graded shingle, and a limestone island you walk right round.

The biggest climb comes first: Golden Cap, at 191 metres the highest point on England's south coast. You drop past Thorncombe Beacon to West Bay, whose golden cliffs featured in Broadchurch, and the coast changes. Chesil Beach runs for 18 miles, its pebbles graded from pea-sized here to fist-sized at Portland — smugglers landing at night knew where they were by the size of the stones.

You pass the Fleet lagoon and Abbotsbury, where monks began keeping swans in the eleventh century, then round the Isle of Portland: sculptures carved into the faces of Tout Quarry, Portland Bill's lighthouse, and the white stone that built St Paul's Cathedral.

03

Weymouth to Poole

The Isle of Purbeck

Army ranges, quarried ledges, a Norman chapel on a headland, and chalk stacks to mark the end of 630 miles.

The final country saves plenty. Durdle Door's limestone arch and the near-circle of Lulworth Cove come early, then the Lulworth Ranges — army land, generally open at weekends — with a fossil forest and Flowers Barrow, an Iron Age fort slowly falling into Worbarrow Bay. Beyond Kimmeridge you climb Houns-tout to St Aldhelm's Head and its square Norman chapel, then follow the quarry coast past Winspit and Dancing Ledge — pausing at the Square and Compass in Worth Matravers, serving through a hatch since 1776. The finish is white: the chalk stacks of Old Harry Rocks, then down to South Haven Point, the end of all 630 miles.

Build your trip

Customise your South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole.

Pick your pace, party size and dates. The itinerary, distances, nightly stops and the price all update live — no commitment until you're happy.

  • Days sized to your walking speed
  • Each night ends at a stop with accommodation
  • Pricing reflects party size and seasonality
  • Save and share the itinerary with your group
Hiker · 4.0 km/h
2 walkers
Exmouth to Poole
Days
9
Distance
190 km
Walking
63 hrs

Your day-by-day itinerary updates live in the Your itinerary section below.

Trip total
£2,618
£1,309 per person · 9 nights · party of 2
See my trip
Your live itinerary

Build your itinerary above.

This is the itinerary you're building. Change the pace, party size or start date in the planner above and every stage, distance and date updates here.

This route. These nights.
One clear price.

You are booking the itinerary above: your walking days, your overnight stays and the support that carries you between them.

Your South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole adventure
Configure your trip in the builder above and it will appear here.
Per Person
—
Trip Total
—
Deposit Today
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Organising this trail for friends? Build a group trip with individual payments

  • Free cancellation to 60 days
  • Confirmation within 24 hrs
  • ABTOT financially protected
Not quite ready?
Prefer to talk? 0131 560 2740 hello@bigtrailadventures.com

We'll start planning your trip right away. Not happy with anything? We'll adjust it or refund you — no questions asked.

ABTOT Member 5690

The Association of Bonded Travel Organisers Trust Limited (ABTOT) provides financial protection under The Package Travel and Linked Travel Arrangements Regulations 2018 for Big Trail Adventures (member 5690). Protection is provided for non-flight packages. Full details in our booking conditions.

And that price covers far more than the places you sleep.

Your South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole is planned from first step to final check-in. The stays, luggage, navigation, local knowledge and a real team behind you are all part of the same trip.

What's included?

Self-guided, but properly supported. You turn up, you walk, you eat well, you sleep well. We handle the logistics.

  • Custom itinerary planned around your pace

  • Comfortable accommodation booked for you

  • Daily luggage transfer where available

  • GPX + day-by-day route notes

  • Big Trail Adventures app for door-to-door navigation

  • On-trail route support

Not included

  • Travel to Exmouth and from Poole
  • Lunches and evening meals (we'll recommend the best places)
  • Travel insurance

Your Trail Book.
The trip in your pocket.

This is not a generic guidebook. We build a private Trail Companion for your dates, your direction, your overnight stops and every day of your South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole.

01

Trail Book

08:12
A day in the Trail Companion: Hendaye to Ibardin with distance, ascent, estimated time, route map and elevation profile

Wake up knowing the whole day

Your exact South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole itinerary — from the place you sleep to the next front door, with the turns people miss and the stops worth making.

02

Trail Book

13:36
Live navigation in the Trail Companion, showing the route on the map with distance remaining and the elevation still to climb

See the trail respond to your pace

Follow your stage offline, see what remains and get a live estimate based on the pace you are actually walking. Your GPX is already cut into each day, ready for Garmin, Coros, Suunto, Apple Watch, Komoot or OS Maps.

03

Trail Book

14:32
The private share link, showing walking progress on the map for friends and family at home

Let home follow the adventure

Family and friends see where you are and when you last updated — no app, no account.

Explore the Trail Book

Where you'll stay

Where you'll sleep

Regency guesthouses, fossil-coast B&Bs and harbour hotels see you through this stage — Lyme Regis and Weymouth both have plenty of good options, with quieter cottage stays around Lulworth and Kimmeridge. We book a comfortable finish in Poole to mark the end of the trail.

  • Regency-town B&Bs in Lyme Regis and Sidmouth
  • Harbour hotels in Weymouth with a rest day built in if you want one
  • Quieter cottage stays near Lulworth Cove and Kimmeridge
  • A proper celebratory finish booked in Poole

Every trip is planned around your dates and party, so we can't promise you a specific inn — but we can promise the kind of welcome that makes a walking holiday feel like a proper holiday.

Self-guided, fully supported

A self-guided South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole, explained.

Self-guided means the walking is yours and the logistics are ours. You set off on the South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole when you want, walk at whatever pace suits you, and stop where you like — there is no group to keep up with and no leader setting the schedule. Everything that makes an independent long-distance walk hard work to organise is handled before you arrive.

There are no fixed departure dates. Choose your own start day, tell us how many nights you want, and the planner rebuilds the 190 km route around it.

You walk
190 km from Exmouth to Poole, South West England — alone, as a pair, or with your own group. No guide, no strangers.
We plan
A 4 – 12 day itinerary built around the pace you pick, with sensible daily distances and the ascent spread properly across the route.
We book
Walker-friendly B&Bs, inns and small hotels along the trail, reserved in your name with breakfast included.
We move your bag
Door-to-door luggage transfer between every stay, so you walk with a daypack.
You navigate
GPX files for every stage plus written route notes — the trail is waymarked, and we flag the few places people go wrong.
We stay reachable
One number for the whole trip, answered by someone who has walked the route.

Your trail, whether you come alone or bring everyone.

We remove the awkward parts at both ends: quiet reassurance for a solo walker, and no unpaid-invoice chasing for the friend who gets a group moving.

Going solo

Independent, not unsupported.

We lend solo walkers a satellite GPS tracker. It updates automatically, even away from phone signal, so you can walk freely while the people at home follow your progress.

  • Fixes your position from satellites, not phone masts
  • Posts automatically every 30 minutes — nothing to remember
  • Keeps working in the glens, on the cliffs and out of signal
Walking solo with us
15:00
The satellite GPS tracker page, showing the day's route and the walker's live position on the West Highland Way
A group trip page showing each walker's payment progress

Bringing friends

Lead the adventure. Don't become the treasurer.

Plan a private South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole with us and get one shared trip page. Every walker pays their own deposit by card and adds their own details—no bank transfers or payment spreadsheet.

How group trips work

Trail Companion and satellite tracking comparison

Shares your position over the mobile network. You update it when you want to. Needs a phone signal to send anything

Reviews from walkers

What it's like to travel with us.

Every review here comes from someone who actually travelled with us — we only ask once the trip's over, and we don't edit what they say.

From walkers on our other trails.

Different routes, same team doing the planning, the bookings and the hand-holding — so these say a lot about what to expect here too.

“An amazing and very memorable experience”

We had a really wonderful experience and are very happy that we went ahead with the trek. It was challenging at times, but overall it was an amazing and very memorable experience. The scenery, the trails and the whole journey were absolutely beautiful. Bhagyashree did have some issues with her knee during the trek, which made a few sections difficult. We didn't let that stop us — we completed most of the trek and, wherever necessary, adapted our plans and took a bus or train for certain stretches rather than putting too much strain on her knee. Managing the trek despite the knee issue made the achievement feel even more special.

Thank you once again for all your help and guidance in planning the trek. Will definitely recommend Big Trail Adventures to all.

Bhagyashree & Akhil · Tour du Mont Blanc · August 2026

“Solo or in a group, I would do this again tomorrow!”

One of the best experiences I have had. I did this solo and felt supported all the way with the BigTrailAdventures team, especially in inclement weather. The vistas were incredible and overnight accommodation was faultlessly organised. Pushing myself during the day ( I ran rather than walked the trail), and then being fed and watered in a hotel in the evening was a treat.

The planning was exceptional and all details were covered.

There is a special time every day when you are overcome with the beauty of the nature that you are seeing, the sweeping vistas and the gratitude for being able to experience this. It rejuvenates your soul.

Lisa · Coast to Coast · May 2026

“Awesome support from start to finish”

The hike, which challenged me in different ways each day, was great. There was so much to see in every direction. The Highlands are simply stunning, clouds and all. The stays were good for the most part, some better than others (one night my room was above the kitchen so it was quite noisy until late into the night and the haunted Inn was a bit much for me :)). The Rowardennan Hotel and Craig Nevis guesthouse were my favorites. All of them offered great breakfasts and most had dinner options with good selections as well.

The planning was amazing. No glitches, except for one minor one at the start where the luggage van changed their drop off location without my knowledge. Thankfully Craig was there in the morning and quickly figured out where they were and even dropped off my luggage for me. Everything else was planned and executed perfectly; my itinerary for each day included great detail of what to expect. The app was awesome and my friends and family loved tracking me every day with the GPS. I had read that the West Highland Way is very popular in spring (when I initially had planned to go) and late summer. It took a lot of back and forth communication about potential dates but Craig very patiently worked it all out. All communication was prompt and thorough. I very much appreciate all the support I received prior and during my adventure!! Thank you Craig!

There are so many moments I will carry with me for a long time, like my first glimpse of the Highlands, all the water everywhere, the coos, day 2 along Loch Lomond when I wished I was a mountain goat and was grateful that it did not rain, arriving at Kingshouse after 19 miles, midges (haha), and so much more.

Nicole · West Highland Way · August 2026

Things walkers ask us.

How fit do I need to be?

On the Hiker pace this stage runs to 9 walking days averaging around 21 km a day with steady cliff undulations. You should be comfortable walking a full day with a daypack.

When should I walk it?

May through September is best. May–June is peak wildflower and seabird season. July and August are busy — book accommodation months ahead. September gives long light and quieter beaches.

Do you include luggage transfer?

Yes — bags up to 20 kg are moved between accommodations every walking day. A few remote overnights need a short taxi transfer, which we plan and book for you.

What kind of accommodation do you book?

Small family-run B&Bs, harbour inns and walker-friendly hotels — en-suite where the village allows, breakfast included, drying space for boots.

Is this a self-guided South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole walking holiday?

Yes. Every South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole trip we run is self-guided: you walk the route on your own, at your own pace, with no group and no guide. We do the planning and the logistics — an itinerary of 4 – 12 days built around the pace you choose, accommodation booked in your name along the 190 km route, your main bag moved between stays each day, GPX files and route notes for every stage, and a real person on the end of the phone while you're out there. You choose your own start date; there are no fixed departures.

What's the difference between a self-guided and a guided South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole trip?

On a guided trip you walk with a leader and a group to a fixed schedule. Self-guided means the day is yours: start when you like, stop for lunch where you like, walk fast or slowly, take a rest day. The route is waymarked and you navigate with the GPX and notes we provide. Everything that makes a trip complicated — accommodation, luggage transfer, the shape of each day — is arranged for you before you arrive.

Can I walk the South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole without a guide?

Yes — the South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole is a signed long-distance route and thousands of people walk it independently every year. What most walkers want help with isn't navigation, it's the 190 km of accommodation, the bag transfers, and getting the daily distances right. That's exactly what we take off your hands, while you still walk it under your own steam.

Who books the accommodation and moves my luggage?

We do, both. We book walker-friendly B&Bs, inns and small hotels in your name at each overnight stop, with breakfast, and arrange door-to-door luggage transfer between them so you walk with a daypack. You'll get a full itinerary with every address, check-in detail and transfer time before you travel.

How many days do I need for a self-guided South West Coast Path Stage 6: Exmouth to Poole?

Most people take 4 – 12 days for the 190 km. Our planner lets you set your own pace and number of nights, so you can stretch the trip out with shorter days or compress it if you're used to back-to-back big days — the itinerary, accommodation stops and price all update as you change it.

Craig, founder of Big Trail Adventures

Not sure this stage is right for you?

Tell Craig your dates, party size and preferred pace. He'll come back with a route that fits — or suggest a neighbouring stage if this one's not the match.

Email Craig

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